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Biographical details

Yona Gilead teaches and researches in the area of additional language education with particular focus on Modern Hebrew. Her research is framed within a sociocultural-ecological linguistic (SCT-EL) paradigm. This holistic framework views language as existing in the social domain; materialising via reciprocal relationships between people and their environment. Therefore, language learning, whether first and/or subsequent languages (L2), is perceived as a developmental process that arises through dynamic interactions between language users. By using language, in speech, reading and writing, people learn and attain language. Yona’s current research publications cover a wide range of issues relating to the ways entry-level university students acquire Modern Hebrew. Through close analysis of classroom discourse and teaching and learning interactions, the publications shed light on classroom dynamics that lead to effective teaching and successful learning of L2 Modern Hebrew.

Research interests

Yona is interested in the complex interplay of factors that affect classroom-based teaching and learning: the ‘why and how’ a range of factors both emerge from and impact on additional language learning. Her particular interest lays in the process that learners go through in their trajectory of learning an additional language (L2). She views the latter as one of the least researched aspects in the L2 field. Another research interest includes the nexus between Modern Hebrew literature and contemporary Israeli society. The ways in which Hebrew speakers’ social-cultural-political views are reflected in their literary output.